


A Day at the Beach

by soafterr



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Canon Compliant, District 4, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Post-Mockingjay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soafterr/pseuds/soafterr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little conversation between Katniss and Peeta during a vacation to District Four</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day at the Beach

“What do you think sex on the beach is like?”

 

I peak my right eye open the slightest bit. It’s bright today, but there is a breeze in the air that makes the heat bearable. Peeta is in his swim shorts on the towel next to me, facing the waves, propped up on his flat palms. I notice the glint of his prosthetic in the sun and I shut my eyes from the brightness. I find myself jealous that he was smart enough to remember to bring his sunglasses and I was not.

 

“Uncomfortable. All that sand…” I scrunch up my nose. “And imagine the sunburns you’d get. Not pleasant.”

 

I lie on my stomach with my top undone, so as to prevent tan lines. My olive skin has always tanned very well. I usually apply one coat of sunscreen just to be safe and protect my patchwork skin, but I never need to reapply it. Peeta, however, has the pale skin of a Merchant, and has to lather new paste-y white layers of sunscreen every hour. Our daughter has unfortunately inherited this feature. Every hour, when we call her away to smear on another coat, she complains about how unfair it is, especially since our son never has to worry about being burnt.

 

“It seems kind of out of character for us to have never done it on the beach, don’t you think? Trains, hovercrafts, public restrooms. But in all the times we’ve vacationed in Four, we’ve never had beach sex.”

 

We haven’t vacationed here vey much though. The ban on leaving District Twelve for me wasn’t lifted until thirteen years after the war’s ended. By that point, we had just started trying to conceive a baby, so, had we actually gone to visit my mother that year, the opportunity might have arrived. Instead, we told her we weren’t ready to leave our home just yet. It took several months to conceive, and then I was pregnant and not interested in traveling, so we’ve only been visiting since just after our daughter was born. Now we come twice a year with the kids to visit my mother and Annie and her son.

 

“I never realized you had a checklist of places you wanted to make love. And you’re forgetting about all the times at the lake.”

 

He chuckles, “Well, I thought those went without saying.”

 

If my eyes were open, he would see me rolling them. “Are you even watching the kids?” I scold.

 

“ _Of course._ What kind of father do you think I am? They’re the little specks being circled by sharks.”

 

From where I lie, I shove him. “ _Peeta!_ ”

 

“Relax! They’re building sandcastles with your mother at the edge of the beach. I’ve been watching them the whole time, although I trust your mother won’t lose track of them.”

 

Over the years my relationship with my mother has gotten much better, especially since my first pregnancy. She was always helpful whenever I had a question, and she delivered both our children. She’s tried very hard to be a good grandmother to both of them.

 

Peeta is close with my mother as well. She has insisted he stops calling her ‘Mrs. Everdeen’ and call her ‘Mom’ instead. And in a way she has become a surrogate mother to him. She’s certainly kinder to him than his own mother was.

 

“You know, we almost did. In the Quell. I have no doubt in my mind that we were headed there.” He turns his head to me and quirks and eyebrow. He’s right of course, but I won’t give him that satisfaction, and instead evade the question.

 

“How can you talk about this when your son and daughter are just 20 feet away?”

 

“They aren’t within earshot, Katniss. And how do you think they got here?”

 

“That reminds me…” I reach around and tie my top back together and sit up. “Zuri! Come here!”

 

My little girl looks up from her sandcastle and frowns. She knows exactly why I’m calling here but she feigns innocence, “What?”

 

“What? You know what. It’s been an hour. You need another coat or you’ll fry.”

 

“Awww _moooom_.” She gets up and starts stomping towards me. She’s wearing my scowl.

 

“Peeta, would you wipe all that water and sand off her with the towel while I get the sunscreen?”

 

He nods and picks up a fresh towel from the bag. “Come here, Little Flower.”

 

I hear her giggle while I dig through my purse for the sunscreen. She’s six now, and she’s a total daddy’s girl. We have a much closer mother-daughter relationship than my mother and I ever did, but if I want her to do something, it’s best to get Peeta’s help.

 

As soon as I’m done lathering her up, she takes off like a bolt of lightning and joins her little brother and grandmother by the shoreline.

 

“I get nervous with Atem so close to the tides,” I confess. “He’s only four.”

 

“You’re mother isn’t letting him out of her sight. And he’s got the both of us watching him from afar,” Peeta soothes. “Plus, we’ve taught him how to swim at the lake. He’s fine.”

 

I nod and squirt another blob of sunscreen on my hand. “Okay, your turn.” I squeeze some more into his hand so he can get his leg and arms while I do his back.

 

I sit behind him so he is between my legs as we both face the ocean. As I paint his back with the paste, I admire the way his shoulder blades move as he applies sunscreen to his leg. He has quite a muscular back for a 39 year-old. As my hands move from his lower back to his shoulders, it becomes less of a matter of applying sunscreen and more of a matter of messaging. I also take a moment to enjoy his blonde hair. I never thought his hair could get blonder but whenever we come to Four it somehow does.

 

His hair shows no signs of turning grey or falling out, and for that I’m grateful. Really, the only sign of aging he has are the crinkles around his eyes that come from smiling too much, and the wrinkle on his forehead that comes from worrying too much. I take credit for both.

 

When I’m finished, I wipe my hands on the towel to get the sunscreen residue off, and kiss the spot just behind his ear. Without saying anything, I get up and walk towards the kids, who have moved on from building sandcastles and are now looking for seashells.

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for toastbaby names always goes to mellarksloaves (Everlark_Pearl on here)!
> 
> Another drabble I've been sitting on for a while. I apologize for the title I sat here for like 10 minutes trying to come up with something good and that what I got *shrug*
> 
> follow me at soafterr.tumblr.com :)


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